Not an Ex-Girlfriend, but an Ex-Something
by Shadowman-DDT
Summary: Loss and pain can eat away at you. Unless you have someone to talk to. Ruby feels it'd be a good idea to share with Jaune what losing Penny meant to her. (Can take place anywhere between episode 2 and 6)


Jaune woke himself up around ten or eleven at night, same as he did most nights since they began their journey to Haven. He looks around the camp to make sure he was the only one awake. Ran and Nora were both sound asleep, but Ruby wasn't in her sleeping bag. She's probably just using the bushes or something.

He put on his armor, grabs Crocea Mors and his scroll, and head towards a nice clearing they passed before setting up camp. The nightly training sessions severed two purposes: one constructive, and one even he had to admit was comparable to self-inflicted torture. He was still nowhere near the skill level of him teammates. Especially Ruby, who had already gone toe-to-toe with a notorious crime boss and a terrorist group several times and lived to tell about it. If he was going to be even a little helpful against Cinder (Considering the insane power she now has) he needed to get stronger fast. And Pyrrha's little tutorial videos helped immeasurably.

However, no matter how helpful the videos were, just watching them killed him a little every time. He still couldn't believe Pyrrha Nikos, quite possibly the most amazing girl in Remnant, actually liked him. And he really couldn't believe she had to die before his dumb ass figured that out. There was so much he wanted to say to Pyrrha that he never could now. So much he wanted to do with her.

So now all he could do is honor her memory. She took time out of her day to teach him to be a better huntsman, even unlocked his aura for him, (Even if he still hadn't figured out what his Semblance was) it was his duty to use everything she taught him to keep the world safe.

And the videos...Keep her close. It's probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but he needed them for now.

Determined to train harder than ever, Jaune quickly makes his way through the thicket of trees, but stops when he sees Ruby sitting cross legged at the base of one. "Ruby? What are you doing here?" The little red head looks up from the sword she's holding, "Wait, is that...?"

"One of Penny's swords?" She looks back at the weapon longingly, turning it over in her hands to examine for the hundredth time. "Yeah."

"Where'd you get it from?"

"Remember when I saved Pyrrha from that Nevermore?" Jaune nodded, "Well, I kept it after I called for Crescent Rose. The Sword gets smaller, see?" She says while folding the sword into itself, then unfolding it to its original length. "That way I can carry it around no problem."

Jaune smiled brightly while sitting under another tree, "But doesn't it still weigh the same?"

Ruby giggles softly, remembering her and Jaune's first conversation. Funny how far both have come. "Yeah, it does." She smiles back at him, and hands him the sword to examine for himself.

He turns the weapon over a few times, "I still can't believe Atlas actually built a war bot that looks like a girl our age. Cinder may be a psychopath, but I think she was right about that one."

Ruby snatched the sword out of Jaune's hands, "Penny was not a war bot!" She said, a protective fire burning in her eyes, "She wasn't like the Knights and Paladins. She had a soul." Ruby looks down at the sword, "She was a huntress."

"Alright, alright..." Jaune put his hands up in a calming gesture, "I'm sorry Ruby. I didn't mean anything by that, I swear." Ruby just nodded her eyes still on the robot girl's weapon. "I guess you guys were pretty close, huh?"

After a moment, instead of answering Ruby asked, "Have I ever told you how I met Penny?"

Confused by the sudden change of subject, Jaune was slightly hesitant to answer, "Uh, no. I don't think so."

Ruby smiled softly, "Well, during first semester Weiss dragged me, Blake, and Yang to Vale after hearing the visiting students would be arriving for the Vytal Festival. Apparently she wanted to scope out the competition, or something. That was the day we met Sun too. He had stowed away on a cargo ship and ended up having to run away from the police." She said with a silly grin. Jaune chuckled softly with fond memories of the money Faunus.

"Weiss, being...well, Weiss; chased after Sun too, and we chased after Weiss, and then Weiss ran into Penny. And I mean that literally, she ran right into her and knocked her over. Needless to say, she lost track of Sun. But we didn't really notice Penny; until Yang pointed out that she was still laying on the ground. And she just started talking to us...Still lying on the ground. Almost like the thought of getting up never even crossed her mind." Ruby pauses and looks down at the sword again, "It was like she was just content with where ever she was, no matter what. She did stand up eventually, though." Her eyes then turn softer, and a dream like smile graces her face, "Then I said the one word that changed everything. I doubt I'd be holding this sword right now, or feeling the way I do if I hadn't said it."

"Well?" Jaune asked, fully engrossed in Ruby's story, "What'd you say?"

Ruby looked up to him, eyes shining with fondness, "I called her friend." Seeing Jaune's confusion, Ruby continued, "Penny didn't have any friends before meeting me. And, even though I didn't mean to, I kinda gave her the idea that I was her first. Weiss, Blake, and Yang tried to get me to blow her off, but I just couldn't. Honestly, I thought Penny was pretty annoying when we first met. But the next day, Me, Yang and Weiss returned to Vale after Blake ran away...The first time." She looked to the side with a frown.

Jaune places a comforting hand on the little red head's knee, "I'm sure Blake had a reason to leave."

Knowing the blonde knight was talking about Blake running after the fall of Vale, Ruby just nods, "I know she does." She sighs heavily and closes her eyes, "I just wish she told us what it was."

The hooded girl shakes her head, "Anyway, she helped me look for Blake...After Yang and Weiss ditched me. Like I said, I didn't really like Penny at first, but she kept following me around like a lost puppy asking me a bunch of questions about friendship. It actually did help me understand her a little. Then we tracked down Blake and Sun and had that fight with Torchwick."

"Now that you did tell me about." Jaune interrupted. "But I don't think you ever mentioned where Penny went after the fight."

"That's because I didn't know." Ruby said with a shrug, "Penny just kinda disappeared a little after Yang and Weiss found us. But after seeing Penny in action, I couldn't help thinking about her. And I sorta started talking about her in our dorm a lot." She admitted with a slight blush, "At first it was just about her weapons. I mean you've seen them in the tournament, right!? They're amazing! Floating swords manipulated by stings that also fire aura powered energy beams? I would LOVE to figure out how this thing works!" She excitedly held up the sword, accentuating her point.

"Uh, Ruby...Penny, remember?"

Ruby cleared her throat, a now much more intense blush burning her cheeks, and gently placed Penny's sword onto her lap, "Right, um. So, at first I was just talking about her weapons, but then I started talking about her. Why was she just wandering around Vale? What Kingdom she was from? What was her favorite food? Why didn't she have any friends? Sure she was a bit much, but she was so sweet you'd think someone would want to be around her. I really got on Weiss's nerves for the next couple of weeks.

"I did meet Penny again while we were trying to find information on the White Fang. It was when me and Weiss went to the CCT to get information from her family's company. I saw her outside the tower and convinced her to meet me in town." Ruby scratches the back of her neck, suddenly embarrassed by something, "And I uh...I might have ditched Weiss to talk to Penny." Jaune just fixed her with a flat stare. "I-She ditched me, it's...only fair to-"

"Abandon your partner to hang out with your robot girlfriend?" He said with a smirk.

"Do you want me to keep telling you this story or not?" Jaune just nodded his head and gestured for her to continue. "So we started walking through town, and she explained why she left so suddenly. But then a couple of Atlas soldiers spotted Penny and she just started running; so I followed. After we lost them, that was when she told me she was a robot. She was some kind of Atlas experiment to give an artificial being an aura. But, I'm not sure why. She also told me that General Ironwood didn't want her to spent time with me or my team. Probably because he didn't want us to figure out what Penny was.

"I didn't get to see Penny again until the tournament started. I caught up with her after she and her partner won their doubles match and she told me she wanted to transfer to Beacon. It wasn't easy getting close to Penny during the Vytal Festival. Ironwood kept a really close eye on her after the whole running away thing from a few weeks back, but Penny was able to give me her scroll's number while her partner wasn't looking. We got to talk more about her life back at Atlas; she even told me a little about her dad."

"Penny has a dad?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shrugged, "Well, someone had to build her. That pretty much makes him her father." The red head then looked extremely downcast. "But then...Well, you know what happened."

Jaune looks away from Ruby for a moment as a tense silence overcame them. "Ruby...Look, I know Pyrrha already apologized; but I know she felt-"

"Jaune." Ruby interrupted, with a warm, comforting smile. "It's alright. I know it wasn't Pyrrha's fault." Then all warmth and kindness in eyes turn to ice and hatred, "Emerald made her do it." Her grip on the sword's hilt tightened for a minute before she took a deep breath and relaxed. "Y'know what's funny? Once the Vytal Festival was over, I wanted to ask her out on a date. Y'know assuming she was allowed to stay in Vale. It would have just been a friendly thing, but...Who knows where it would have lead. And I guess now we'll never know."

Jaune sat across from Ruby in silence, just mulling over everything he heard. "Ruby? Were you in love with Penny?"

"No, I wasn't." She said with little hesitation.

Ruby's answer genuinely surprised Jaune, "Oh, I uh...I kinda thought...Y'know you kept one of her swords, you were gonna ask her out, you said you kept thinking about her..."

Ruby nodded her head slowly, then looked Jaune directly into his eyes, "Jaune, when did you first start to notice girls?"

"I-What?"

"Girls. When did you start thinking about girls in a lovey-dovey kinda way?"

Jaune had to think about it for a moment before answering, "Uh, I guess I was ten? Maybe eleven? Why?"

"I never really noticed boys in any real way." She said in an oddly content tone of voice, "Or girls, because I know you were about to ask." Giving Jaune a knowing look. "Stuff like that just never really crossed my mind. I was focused on one thing: Being a huntress like mom and Uncle Qrow. As long as I could be a huntress, that's all that really mattered. But then I met Penny. Penny was sweet. And Ernest. Kind. Funny. Very affectionate. I wasn't in love with Penny. But if things had gone differently; if we could have gotten to know each other better...I would have absolutely fallen in love with her."

Ruby stands, folds Penny's sword up and turns back to her friend, "Jaune, if you really cared about someone, it's okay to miss them so much you'll do anything to keep a part of them with you. But you need to learn to move on." Jaune is about to say something, but Ruby just hold her hand up, "I'm not saying it has to be now. It's only been a few months. You can take as long as you need to grieve." She kneels down to Jaune's eye level. "Jaune...I admire you so much. You're trying so hard to get stronger, and I can see how far you've come since we first met. But Pyrrha wouldn't want you torturing yourself with this. Me, Ren, and Nora would be more than willing to help you."

"I know, I know you would. But I...I need to do this."

"Jaune..."

"No," He shakes his head with a tired smile, "I need this right now. And this isn't some macho, tough guy thing. Trust me; I learned my lesson with that. It's just...You said it yourself: Time to grieve." He pulls his scroll out of his pocket. "This is how I grieve. You can respect that. Right?"

Ruby nods, "I don't like it. But if this is what you need. I can respect it. And I'll be here when you need me." She stands and turns to head back to camp.

Before she could get too far, Jaune calls out to her, "Hey Ruby? Would you like to see Pyrrha again?" He asked, holding up his scroll. Ruby smiles and sits next to him. He opens the scroll and starts up the video he was planning on playing tonight. The sight of Pyrrha's smiling face, and the sound of her husky voice, brought tears to Ruby's eyes. She leaned her head on Jaune's shoulder and clutched Penny's sword to her chest. Jaune put an arm around Ruby. They'd get through this together.


End file.
